parilla

From lakes district patagonia

had some delicious steaks in argentina so far. including this whopper.

From lakes district patagonia

in el bolson we stayed for about 5 days in a great guesthouse. it was a hospedaje- a few rooms for rent in a family´s home. the young couple was great to us and even cooked for us sometimes. claudio fired up the parilla twice for us. he bought a beef, lamb, and pork; prepared a fresh marinade from veggies, spices, and oil; and spent at least 2 hours working the grill.

From lakes district patagonia

before:

From lakes district patagonia

after:

From lakes district patagonia

note that the veggies on the grill were just for show.

the second time he did this for us, it was raining outside. so he brought the parilla into the family room fireplace. this guy was serious about his bbq.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

when you´re bored in huts...

...just whittle down a few weights and start training.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

sketchy bridges

on our way out to refugio cajon de azul, we found the sketchiest river crossings this side of machu pichu.

here´s a standard sketchy bridge.

From lakes district patagonia

here´s a sketchy bridge where planks are missing because they break sometimes.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

here´s a log bridge covered in ice. it crosses over a gorge. i spit over the edge and it took 7 seconds for the spit to hit the water. do the math, nerds.

From lakes district patagonia

on our way back, we found that the sketchy bridges get more sketchy when covered in ice.

From lakes district patagonia

cajones azules

From lakes district patagonia

after leaving bariloche and refugio frey, we traveled 2 hours south to el bolson. its a quiet little town in the rio azul valley. seems like lots of hippies ended up there. we took a 3 day hike into the andes to the west of town. spent 2 nights at refugio cajon de azul.

Ver rio azul en un mapa más grande
from the trailhead we hiked past a few farms, then towards the valley with the refugio. before we were really into the valley, we got some good views from the trail looking back towards the east (towards el bolson and the smaller mountain range behind it).

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

as we hiked further into the valley we found tons of frosted forest. it was strange... we had just been in hot and sunny t-shirt shirt weather, then found ourselves hiking in a white forest. you can see how the forest on the other side of the valley changes from white to green... pretty crazy.

From lakes district patagonia

it was awesome hiking in the frost... everything was still and illuminated.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

got to the refugio about 3 hours after we started. a short hike with a big payoff... the refugio was really a working farm, with a huge main house. atilio was the owner and farmer. he built the house some 30 years ago, mostly out of the wood in the forest.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

the house had plush accomodations as far as huts go. there were 4 iron heating stoves: one to cook on, 2 for heating the house, and a 4th for heating water. the place had hot showers!

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

atilio was great- he took us around the farm at feeding time and hung out with us for the evening. played some dice and had some of his homemade beer (hoppy but with lemon flavors).

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

took a hike the next day to next refugio on the trail. it was empty but open... so its free, but its also freezing at night.

From lakes district patagonia

we had a dog hiking with us all 3 days. he actually met us at the trailhead on the way in. he lead us along the trail, stopping and waiting as we ate and took detours. for a little mop of a dog, he was an amazing trail dog.

From lakes district patagonia

doppleganger

in a hostel the other night, an argentine named mariano said i look like a famous argentine poet. he pulled up the images and there he was. my argentine doppleganger.

his name is fito paez and this is what i know:
Rodolfo “Fito” Páez Ávalos (born March 13, 1963 in Rosario, Santa Fe Province) is an Argentine popular rock and roll pianist, lyricist, Spanish language singer and film director.

its a pretty good fit, even if he´s a little older and has some gnarlier neck beard hair.

From lakes district patagonia

while we´re in buenos aires i´ll try to pass myself off as fito. not to argentines... that ruse would quickly dry up as my language skills are sorely lacking. no, we´ll have to do a sting operation on other foreign travellers. lkm will be talking to other travelers in a bar or restuarant, then point to me across the room and say "oh. my. god. is that fito paez!?!".

we´ll have to do some more planning for the next part of the ruse, after the traveller asks the inevitable question of "who the fuck is fito paez?"

refugio frey

From lakes district patagonia

Ver villa catedral en un mapa más grande
when we got into bariloche 10 days ago, we figured out a great hike into the patagonia mountains outside of town. there´s a number of huts - refugios - spread throughout the nahuel huapi national park. these are on par with the huts in new zealand... typically running water, cook stoves, and a firery cast iron stove. wish the sierra club huts had these ammenities.´

started out at the local ski resort, catedral. no snow on the mountains yet, which is good for hiking but depressing for the start of ski season. this is the sign at the trailhead.

From lakes district patagonia

obvious enough, eh? unfortunately the rest of the trail wasn´t as well marked. about 200 meters after this sign, we ran into a construction site- new communities full of 2nd homes are being built in this area. the site had way too many dirt roads and footpaths leading out of it... we managed to pick a loser. after an hour of navigating our way through streams and thickets heading towards what we thought was the direction we needed to go, we got back on the primary trail. the views were great.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

hiked up a valley towards refugio frey. found another refugio on the way... pretty rugged little sucker.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

got there late in the day and found a little piece of paradise.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

the bano

From lakes district patagonia

there were 2 young guys working there for the winter. its a cold, solitary life... we were the only folks they had seen for the last few days. they were climbers who seemed to be well suited for the work. especially because they loved ice skating. "vamos a patinar!" they would say every morning and every night, and they`d work on their spins and single footed skating... not your typical mountain man activity.

skating on a frozen pond was pretty awesome though. here are some shots from the lake.

From lakes district patagonia

the view from the breakfast table the next morning. thats cerro catedral and a few surrounding peaks... evil wicked looking peaks.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

cerro catedral at sunset

From lakes district patagonia

took a hike up the catedral range (a trail off to the right... easier than it looks).

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

looking down the valley toward lake toncheck... frey is out of sight to the left.

From lakes district patagonia

found another frozen lake up at the next plateau... lake schmoll. we heard constant cracking of the ice, a disconcerting sound even if your feet are firmly planted on rock.

From lakes district patagonia

i climbed up higher over the saddle and found la cancha de futbol.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

peaked a little further and found the valley running west towards refugio jakob and monte tronador, a 3000m peak.

From lakes district patagonia

and the view north to the back of the ski slopes and onto lake nahuel huapi.

From lakes district patagonia

refugio frey even had micro brew stout. i love frey.

From lakes district patagonia

after the hike we were tired, and giddy. here´s laura loving her stripes and me really tired.

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia

From lakes district patagonia